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Please continue reading if you’ve read the story starter – a very long Chapter 1 – and you’re ready to dive into the story with me.

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About the story: (short description. Click here for longer)

“Let Me Love You” is a tale of love and sacrifice and a poignant story of self-discovery, celebrating the human capacity to find love in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Please enjoy the current WIP of Iris and El. This will be published freely up to a point, like in the old days, and then the entire book will be posted for full download. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. And don’t forget to check out the companion stories. (Wicked Chances, Dreams of Reality, The Convenient Wife, The Other Side of Love, She Works Hard for the Money & Ravenous)

Enjoy, Your Author, Sylvia Hubbard

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Read more: Let Me Love You – Chapter 40✍🏾📚❤️ #SylLit #WIP #livestory 📖💓 #marriedwife #demandedconsensual #darkromance

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Do I wanna deal with Blaque? No, but I want the Bellini family to start, and she is what’s getting in my way. I gotta finish the Heart of Detroit overarching storyline, which concerns the patricide.

I know you have many questions about El and his backstory, but he’s a complicated man. And then there’s Iris.. so much to deal with in her head, but sooner or later, she could find her happiness. Maybe. What do you think?

Your author, Sylvia Hubbard

The gloom Blaque left in the room after her departure was so heavy that El felt his soul on the floor. She had that effect on people, and he never regretted pushing her out of his life.

El was about to text Iris after Blaque left him to try to feel anything, so when El received Iris’s frantic text message about Sharlie Costello, he was more glad than upset. 

Was this going to be a thing? Desiring Iris’s company more than he wanted to be alone?

Should he explain that he knew who the nosey reporter was and how that annoying woman knew about them? El could assure Iris he’d take care of Sharlie Costello. That reporter loved going after wealthy, powerful men like serial killers, destroying their reputations and blabbing gossip or dark secrets to anyone who would listen to her podcast or read her blog.

Iris answered before the phone rang on his end. 

“Who is this woman in black that can climb secure fences?” she demanded.

El quickly deduced who Iris was referring to. “Blaque Heart, but how-“

She cut him off. “The one her whole family wants to kill? Why is she in Aunt Rose’s backyard, and how can she get over unclimbable fences?”

“All I can say is there is no lock, fence, or door Blaque cannot get through. I believe it’s a talent in the family they are born with. Blaque was there because of me.” He assured her, “But she won’t bother you again. She understands you’re off limits.” 

He wouldn’t add that Blaque had tendencies to change her mind because he didn’t need Iris to worry. Assuring Iris’s safety as soon as possible would be more urgent than ever.

“And this Sharlie Costello chick?” Iris questioned.

“An enemy of an enemy. It’s a long story. She does some of Blaque’s bidding in exchange for information she couldn’t have gotten. If Blaque was in the inner courtyard, she likely saw us in the shed and told Sharlie. That journalist has been trying to get anything to bump her influence up, and this was the fodder she’s been looking for, but I’m not worried. What I do in my personal life has nothing to do with my business life.”

“Are you sure about that, El? People may see that if you cross the line personally, then you sure as hell can do it in the business world. You don’t need that harming your reputation when so many wealthy people trust you to handle their negotiations. I wouldn’t want to harm the business you’ve worked hard for.” 

“You could never do that, Iris. You’re an asset to my business, and I’m not going to let you go just because Sharlie Costello will put my business out there without any real proof except word of mouth.” 

Waryly, she questioned, “How do you know Blaque didn’t take pictures?”

Regrettably, he answered, “I know Blaque.”

The line went quiet, and he worried that the following words out of her mouth would be that she would quit and would have nothing to do with him.

After a minute, when she still said nothing, he offered. “I went to the house, and I have Clem’s things. I didn’t want to scour the journals unless we were together.”

“There WERE journals?” she questioned excitedly.

“A lot of them,” El confirmed, loving how breathy her voice became, reminding him of their night together. “And then there were books where she wrote in the gutter or around the edges. Clem’s a pretty smart kid. He took a treasure trove of information and proof.”

“Proof?”

El explained. “Proof that your father is a man who belongs under a jail somewhere, Iris, and Dwayne needs to follow him.”

Impatiently, she asked, “Can I come over?”  

His manhood shot to attention as he yearned to be in her proximity sooner than later. Damn, was she reading his thoughts, or did she want him as much as he wanted her? He couldn’t determine if she did this because she felt it would help her pay off her debt or if she really desired him. HIM?! She’d been with him, seen parts of him he had not shown very few; she still desired him? 

How many others had only come around him to get what they needed, put up with him, and then walked away once they got what they wanted? Iris could be no different, but she knew he could drop her faster than a bad habit once he was done. Yet, she still walked into last night without an ounce of hesitation.

Her eyes were wide open.

Still, his body was wide awake. El couldn’t sit down properly, so he had to stand up and pace.

Her voice broke his overthinking. “I only want to pick up the journals and read through them with you,” she explained. “If we don’t do it tonight, we’ll be too busy during the week to get anything done. Your calendar is booked out for the rest of the week, especially with the trip to Chicago.”

Gawd! Was she trying to turn his brain inside out?

Iris understood how vital work was to him. Damn, hadn’t El spent yesterday at the office and most of today mulling through all the work she had organized for him as they moved into the next endeavor? And she had started the paperwork and ordering for the office, including the filing systems, which were just genius. 

Iris seemed to know everything he was worried about, and somehow, she took the list out of his head and documented everything with resolutions or suggestions! 

And now this? How could this be fate? 

Was she too good to be true? 

“El, are you there?” she questioned doubtfully. 

“I know finding the truth is important to you. You may come over. I’ll send you the address and have a keycard ready for you at the front desk.” He felt he should reiterate. “Don’t think there’s a repeat of last night, Iris.” He made sure his tone was harsh so she wouldn’t try anything. 

Iris chuckled. “I would think you were too tired, El. I understand this has nothing to do with last night. Thank you, El. Give me about a couple of hours.”

Damn! He didn’t want to get off the phone with her, but he knew keeping her on there wasn’t him. 

He didn’t offer a goodbye. 

He was going to see her soon.

For the journals… only for the journals. And perhaps to find out why there was hardly anyting in the house that was hers. 

Suddenly, he was feeling thirsty.

***

As soon as she got off the phone, she found Clem setting up his dinner, which she’d plated from leftovers and placed in the bottom of the refrigerator. Iris desperately needed the distraction her nephew offered so she wouldn’t harbor on El’s words, ‘I know Blaque.’

What the hell was that supposed to mean, and why was Iris getting jealous over a woman who made El sound so miserable when he spoke about her? This Blaque was not a nice person; however, she had traumatized El and made a lasting negative impression on him. He always sounded like having Blaque in his life was a curse.

‘You don’t care,’ Iris told herself. This was a job, and there were no guarantees for forever.  

Clem rattling dishes around in the kitchen brought her back to the reality she needed. Iris loved how independent and self-sufficient her nephew was at his young age. Had it been from a hard-lived life, or did he love being this way? 

She couldn’t tell, but her obedient nephew was a blessing for her life. 

“What’s wrong with your face?” he asked worriedly. 

Rolling her eyes and fighting a blush wanting to burst from her cheeks, she reminded him, “It’s a school night.”

He nodded as he dug in his food. “Aunt Rose said she will be my teacher starting tomorrow.”

Iris appreciated her aunt for introducing Clem to the concept they might have to yank him out of school for his safety. “Does that make you angry?” she inquired to her nephew.

Shaking his head as he chewed down a large mouthful, he finally responded after a moment. “I’d like that. Aunt Rose teaches a lot more things than school, and I get to help her in the garden.”

“Thank you, Clem.”

Iris made sure she used the lemongrass soap and after putting Clem to bed early since it was a school night. After kissing her nephew as he read himself to sleep, she found a blue boho print wrap maxi mid-calf length dress. This was from her college days, and she had forgotten about the dress. 

“You made that from the old patterns your mother used to keep around here,” Aunt Rose said at her doorway.

Memories of all the pinpricks she’d received hand-sewing this dress returned to her, and Iris smiled. “I hope it still fits.”

“It will.” 

“Aren’t you going to ask me where I am going?”

“I already know.”

Iris couldn’t stop blushing and rubbed her stomach, feeling the butterflies flutter around. “It’s only to look over the journals he found at the old house, Aunt Rose.”

“I know.” Yet the wicked look in her aunt’s eyes clearly indicated that the older woman was not thinking that way. 

Iris huffed in exasperation. “Last night was a one-time thing. We needed to get it out of the system, and now that it’s done, we can focus on business.”

“It’s never a one-time thing if two people enjoy themselves. I may have lived in this house my whole life, but I’m not ignorant to lust, Iris. Let me know what you find in the journals. I have a feeling we aren’t going to like what’s in there. Violet wasn’t stupid, even though she liked to play it up to Arum. And I think she only did it so he wouldn’t use her like he used you.” Aunt Rose frowned disapprovingly. “I’ll be getting Clem’s lessons together for the rest of the night, so if you need to contact or text me for anything you don’t understand, you won’t be a bother.”

“Thank you, Aunt Rose.”

Iris found some soft-heeled black shoes and grabbed her purse. Nervously, she started the car and followed the directions to the hotel.

Stepping out of her vehicle and quickly going from the guest parking lot to the front of the hotel, she felt like she was being watched again. Could it be Dwayne? Her father? Or perhaps this Blaque?

Her steps almost faltered, but Iris quickly entered the lobby.

As El said, a keycard was waiting for her at the front desk, and Iris was instructed to take the private elevators to the floor he was on.

Just the journals, she told herself. You’re only coming over to see the journals.

A tightening in her chest suddenly started at the idea of getting close to him just as she put the key card in the door. Twisting the knob, she could feel her body desire more than just getting near him to see the journals.

Control yourself, she ordered. 

The tightening in her chest increased.

End of This Chapter | Post your thoughts in the comment | Let the author know what’s going on in your head

Let Me Love You (c) 2024 Sylvia Hubbard All Rights Reserved

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual person, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
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